Place Small Home Recycle Bins In Key Locations To Encourage Recycling

Today's mission is to place small home recycle bins in key locations of your home to encourage recycling.

In the declutter calendar I've referred to this as creating "satellite" recycling centers in places in your home.

I know that word may have thrown some people off, but it was me trying to use shorthand when I had to say what the day's mission was in a very condensed space.

That's why I wanted to explain this mission a bit more because it is quite simple, and really shouldn't take you much time at all, but it can make a significant practical impact on you and your family actually recycling the items you can and should.

What Obstacles Are Holding You Back From Recycling?

I have never met anyone that is adamantly opposed to the concept of recycling. I think we all are pretty convinced we should do it. The problem comes in actual execution.

That's the way with many things in life.

So one of the points of organization and decluttering is to remove obstacles and barriers which are causing us not to do something we need or want to do.

In this case, in regard to recycling, for many people an obstacle to recycling is not having a convenient container to place the recyclables into close to where they used them.

Is it a major obstacles? No. You could, for example, walk the shampoo bottle from the bathroom over to the main recycling bin in the kitchen, or take the papers from your home office out to the garage to place with the other paper recycling. Obviously, yes you could. But the question is -- do you?

If you instead often throw those items in the trash bin, since it is right there handy in the bathroom or home office, we know that even though it is a minor obstacle it is holding you back from recycling.

Work With Your Habits & Place Containers For Collecting Recyclables Where You Need Them

Fortunately, this is easily rectified. All you've got to do is put a

small container that you designate to hold recycling in these types of areas, that you will then periodically empty into the bigger main recycling bins in your home.

That's why I call these small recycle bins satellite containers -- they are the small orbits around your larger main home recycling center.

And my solution for emptying these small containers is to incorporate the habit into your (hopefully) already established habit of regularly emptying the trash cans throughout your house. When you do empty those trash cans, and consolidate all the trash to be taken out, go ahead and also just add the recycling you've collected from these satellite containers to the larger main recycling collection center then.

Where Should You Put These Small Containers?

The answer to this is very individual for your own family's needs and habits, but here are some places you should at least consider putting a small container to collect recyclables:

Bathrooms

Home office

Laundry room

I typically suggest the kitchen, or adjacent to the kitchen for the main recycling center in your home, because that is where a large amount of your recyclable waste is generated. However, if because of space constraints your main collection area is somewhere else you should also have something in your kitchen.

In addition, depending on your family's activities in the garage, that is another area to consider having such a small collection station.

This really is a quick mission, but it can make a huge difference by just making it easier for you to drop that recyclable item into a container instead of a trash can.

Helpful hint, if needed, somehow differentiate the trash and other container, with color or label, or something else, just so people don't get confused about which is which!

Here are some available small recycling bins and containers you can use:

Below are examples of such a satellite container shown by a reader. I'd love to see yours as well, once you put them into place, so submit your photos here and I'll add the best ones to the page!

Real Life Satellite Recycling Containers

Ellen said: "And just installed this weekend because of this challenge, in the upstairs bathroom, white for recyclables, silver for trash."

In addition, another reader, Brandy, also added a couple of containers. Brandy explained, "Ii actually just added a box for paper recycling just before the start of 2015 in the upstairs room where the kids do a lot of art projects and such. It's in a central location to all the bedrooms and the bathroom as well.

And recently instead of a plastic bag that was just getting in the way of opening a cabinet in the laundry room I'm now using an old coffee can for CFLs and batteries that need to be recycled. My family is already in a habit of taking the empty shampoo bottles downstairs when they are empty so no need for that to be upstairs in the bathroom."

Are You Ready To Declutter Your Home?

Are you ready to get your home organized and decluttered now?

When you begin to declutter the feeling you get is contagious, so if you're loving the results you're getting I would encourage you to keep going.

Just pick and choose the ones you want to do, that will make a big impact in your home. But if you want someone else to tell you the order you can also grab the 15 minute daily decluttering mission calendars and follow along as we all get our homes clutter free together!

Comments for Real Life Satellite Recycling Containers

We save and recycle paper shopping bags and place a paper shopping bag in the office area and all the junk mail, paper trash goes into the shopping bag. It is right next to the paper shredder. When the bag is full we tie it up and bring it out on trash pick up day.

Recycle near trashby: Bev

I love garbage day here - recycle is picked up on the same day. Our state has always recycled since I've been here. I decided early on to save $ and landfill by recycling - it is free, trash is not! I put a small wastebasket labeled recycle by all our trash baskets - in every bedroom too - kids have lots of papers they can recycle. Where the computer printer is. Any room that people use a lot. --Where TV is. I found where you have trash you have more recycle. MOST of the trash pickup days have more recycles than my trash - I Love it!

compost and recycle as much as you canby: Vicki

My husband and I have had less than a 33 gal bag of garbage (landfill type trash) a month for over 3 years. We compost and recycle as much as we can.

in 2015 we had 8 bags
in 2014 we had 9 bags

It is not hard, you just have to remember to place compost in its bin and recycle in its place.

When we finish reading the newspapers they go into a box located between the dining room and the living room. That's a central location for us. When the box is filled my dh takes the papers to a local thrift store. They use it to wrap breakables people have purchased.

Where containers are neededby: Anonymous

A few years back I had a lightbulb moment. I suddenly realized that I had generated trash and recycle stuff all around my computer. I solved the problem with two ideas:a pair of small baskets and a resolve to pick up after myself and put things where they belonged every time I left the computer. It has made quite a difference and with really little effort.

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